Honourable Deputy Minister of Tourism, Thoko Xasa
Honourable MEC for Environmental Affairs in the Eastern Cape, Comrade Mcebisi Jonas
Honourable Executive Mayor of the OR Tambo District Municipality, Councillor Zoleka Capa
Members of the Mayoral Committee
Councillors
Director-General of Environmental Affairs, Ms Nosipho Ngcaba
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for accepting our invitation to attend this joyous and empowering moment in the short history of the newly created and reconfigured Department of Environmental Affairs under the industrious leadership of my Director-General, Ms Nosipho Ngcaba. I have never seen such commitment, leadership, intelligence and diligence. It is indeed empowering because we are restoring to our people what the apartheid system took away from them, their dignity and the right to a clean and habitable environment.
The previous regime favoured the minorities. If you were to look at the differences between the cities and the townships and rural areas we are very aware of the disparities based on racial lines. That is why there was a need for the creation of homelands. The landscape and other factors led to also a great difference in the price of houses. There is a simple example through what Mayor Masondo did in Soweto. When greening and creation of parks happened, the prices of houses escalated and the crime rate went down. The quality of life changed and people started having an appreciation for the small things in their surroundings.
We cannot talk of African Renaissance without a change in the quality of life.
We need to also be conscious of the polluters from industry who will be challenged to create parks in the townships and villages. Such recreational facilities in the villages are unthinkable but can have a positive impact on the communities. Rural areas should also be places of enjoyment and be looked upon as good places.
When we hosted the Municipal Indaba in July this year, I expressed concern and displeasure about the state of the environment in various townships and villages countrywide. I singled out Mthatha as an example of such areas crying out for urgent intervention. On 4 August 2009, at the Cleanest Town Competition award ceremony I committed to launch the Cleaning and Greening programme in Mthatha.
Today, we are delivering on that commitment, with the support of our partners Indalo Yethu, Buyisa eBag, City Parks, SABC 1, SA Post Office and Ayanda Mbanga Communications, among others. We are throwing down the gauntlet to all compatriots to embrace Buyisela with the same fervour and spirit as duly typified and embodied in our inspirational and revolutionary slogan of Mayibuye iAfrika!
My interaction with provinces and municipalities has convinced me that we are collectively not doing justice to environment management as a portfolio. We do not set aside enough budget for environmental management, which defeats efforts by government to build a healthy nation. Building a healthy nation cannot be measured only by the number of hospitals and clinics we build; but putting in place good environmental management policies and systems is a great step towards achieving that noble objective.
Today we are launching Buyisela in Mthatha with the sole objective of giving the townships and villages a new beginning. Buyisela means giving back or restoring, which in essence captures the thrust of cleaning and greening efforts which go beyond just lawns and trees, but also creates recreational spaces for our people to enjoy their neighbourhoods whilst also clearing the open spaces which could have been a breeding ground for criminal activities.
Buyisela is an initiative led by our department in tandem with Indalo Yethu and Buyisa eBag. This initiative aims to create TEN eco-towns modelled on sustainability as a legacy project which will serve as a framework or blueprint for other towns to follow. Buyisela seeks to supplement the municipal street cleaning efforts, clear up all hotspots, establish landfill sites where there aren't any, clean and rehabilitate dumpsites and encourage recycling as part of efforts to stop the "throw away" mentality.
We have set aside R400 million for the Buyisela initiative which will be split equally among the proposed pilot sites, with R40 million set aside for the cleaning and greening of Mthatha alone. In addition, our Department has set aside an amount of R27 million which is aimed at the rehabilitation of the dump site and the creation of a new waste management site in Mthatha.
Programme Director, we are equally mindful that cleaning and greening interventions cannot be parachuted from Pretoria to different communities; hence we sought the support and concurrence of provinces at the last Environmental MINMEC meeting held last month in KwaZulu-Natal.
The state of open spaces largely contributes to defining the socio-ecological and socio-economic character of cities and towns. Some of the challenges facing open space systems include illegal dumping, poor aesthetics, pollution from the domestic and other industries resulting in increasing health and safety risks including, poor quality of water from physical, biological and chemical sources as well as the increasing infestation from alien invasive species. It is hardly surprising that the social challenges that characterise these open spaces manifest themselves as nests conducive for criminal activities.
Of course, these problems are mainly caused by institutional, behavioural and physical dynamics. As a developing country, South Africa's over-riding priorities are poverty reduction and socio-economic development. In this context, our immediate priorities include the urgent delivery of basic human development services to the poor and most vulnerable, and include ensuring access to housing, water, sanitation, food security, energy, transport, education and public health services.
Biodiversity, i.e. protecting, conserving and enhancing our local environment, is not about a few endangered species. Biodiversity is the building block of life that sustains all ecosystems that underpins service delivery. However, our ability to deliver on these fundamental development services, at all levels, as well as improve service delivery is being persistently undermined by the short, medium and long term impacts of climate change.
Restoration of degraded ecosystems will increase the ability of ecosystems to withstand climate change and adapt naturally. It will cost South Africa a lot more in the future if we don’t act now. As we said in June this year, during the celebration of Environment Month, South Africa must act now to combat Climate Change. Investing in the ecological infrastructure of this country is as important as building schools, roads, hospitals and houses.
We need to bring biodiversity into focus and understand the connections between what is happening to our planet and society at large. We need to use our Biodiversity, our ecological infrastructure, as a self reliant instrument to combat climate change. To address this situation, climate change adaptation needs to be incorporated into development programmes.
In December, we will be joining other nations of the world in Copenhagen where we are hopeful that we will arrive at a fair and just deal that represents the fears, concerns and expectations of developing nations like South Africa.
Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development, with adverse impacts expected on the environment, human health, food security, economic activity and investment, natural resources and physical infrastructure. We are also as a country, threatened by drastic change in temperatures and weather patterns through climate change.
As government, we believe that arming our communities with empowering information on how to stop Climate Change in its tracks, is but one part in a bouquet of interventions that we must pursue. The establishment of projects like this cleaning and greening initiative at the community level, where the impacts of climate change are most visible, has the most impact in terms of adapting to climate change, but also because everyone has the right to be aware of the consequences of climate change and take the necessary actions for the greater good of the community. At the same time, government is actively contributing to controlling green house gases and curbing biodiversity loss through greening programmes.
This cleaning and greening event is happening at an opportune time, when the world is grappling with the degradation of the environment and the loss of Biodiversity, which is exacerbated by climate change. This occasion is therefore a key milestone in responding to the needs of the communities we represent while at the same time creating partnerships between government and the people in the spirit of participatory democracy. By having such events, we are able to demonstrate to the community at large the value of biodiversity in maintaining sound ecosystem services.
People everywhere must give effect to their shared desire for a better quality of life and a productive, healthy environment. As the global impacts of climate change become more prevalent, ecosystem integrity will be a critical component of South Africa’s climate change adaptation strategy. Adaptation to climate change must come from the people, through their indigenous knowledge, individual decisions and political voices.
Climate change, though posing serious challenges to every one of us, has challenged us to rethink the way we interact with the environment and consequently the economic activities we engage in for a living. We are seeing the development of a green economy whose existence is a direct result of efforts and interventions aimed at addressing climate offending activities with new environmentally friendly initiatives. The green economy will allow us the ability to create green jobs and ensures real sustainable economic growth. The green economy will promote a number of objectives including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), mitigation and adaptation efforts to the changing climates, economic transformation and recovery that address the interdependence of economic growth and natural ecosystem and the adverse impact of economic activities on the environment.
The creation of decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods remains a priority for government with the target of halving unemployment by 2014. South Africa has an opportunity to create jobs that provide equal hope for the environment and the jobholder. Already there are active industry initiatives in the country that contribute to the creation of green jobs, for example people employed in installing solar water heaters as a contribution to renewable energy. The solar water heaters installation project alone presently creates about 1000 direct jobs and has a potential to create about 20 000 jobs by 2013 and 355 200 (manufacturing and installation) by 2020.
Part of the short-term interventions involves the development of Waterfall Park in Ngangelizwe Township. This facility provides recreational opportunities in a green, safe and healthy multipurpose landscaped environment. The design was informed by the broader community needs and aspirations which have been sourced through the active involvement of the community in such planning and design. This project has contributed to sustainable job opportunities through continued maintenance activities, as well as sustainable livelihoods, enhancement of landscapes and ensuring access to state of the art recreational facilities by our communities.
As many of you may know better, this project is close to my heart and is important for the well being of our country and people. I hope that you will guard this effort with all the passion that I know is within this community. I know so, because without positive contribution from this community, the freedom that we enjoy today as a people would not have been achieved. Buyisela gives us all an opportunity to restore our people’s dignity and breathe life into the legacy of the icon of our struggle, Nelson Mandela, whose residence is not far away from Mthatha.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs
29 October 2009
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs (http://www.environment.gov.za)
